Poem: Experimental Conversation

You may have had such a conversation in your own mind, long after the event.

Experimental Conversation

This conversation keeps running through my mind,
long after we stood silently and said goodbye
I don’t want this you know and looked at her,
traced the hair swept back across her ear
and made her look at me
It’s not the wrong time and place, the time is now,
the place is here and we belong together,
not apart

I know, she said, I know
Then let me say the things I need to say,
the things I thought you understood,
without the need to put it all to words
The wrong time is never wrong,
when one person hears another’s song
and understands the words
I know, she said, I know

As for the place, I need to learn the place
See it through your eyes and know the streets
that cross your city and intersect your life
I know my life, but need a guide to yours
Need you to take me by the hand
and show me what it is that makes me care
Take me back, because I’m at the edge of loving
and I can’t bear to have you leave me here

It makes such sense, my conversation rambles on,
for us to keep the hold and not let go
She nods and puts her head on my shoulder
It was always such a perfect fit, she said
Our lives? No, your shoulder, but it’s a start
and I held her for a moment, not breathing
Love begins with trust, I said, we need to trust
I know, she said, I know

I’ve come half a world to know you in a language
that’s not yours, that you may not understand
To know the perfect child that’s behind your eyes
Language is all we have, just words and trust
I’m not a child, she said, and I’m not perfect
We’re all children, I said,
and perfect every one of us,
but it takes love and trust to show ourselves
I know, she said, at least I want to know

So here we are I said, and we’re about to turn away,
about to let it all slide off and run to others,
who won’t ask so much of us, won’t want to know
I want to know, so please don’t turn away from me

Not when finally the time is now, the place is here
and you and I are so very close to trust
Not finding words, she nodded against my shoulder
The one that fit perfectly and we turned, walked home

A conversation running in my mind
long past the time
when we stood silently and said goodbye